Hi everyone I'm Jack Red, I recently gotten Castlevania: Symphony of the Night earlier this month for free. I got it while I still had gold making it a free game. WOW I miss playing this on my Xbox 360. I beaten Dracula several times on Xbox One already. I actually got a warning amount of stuff to talk about.
I haven't played many Castlevania games. To be honest, this is the first Castlevania game I beaten. I got a lot of fond memories playing this game. I am not going to hide it, this is one of my absolute favorite Castlevania games of all time. There's so much content on one disc. Oh ok back then similar concept games had multiple discs on the same console or those on Sega Saturn.
So I'm very mind blown they got it on one disc is truly impressive. This follows Castlevania: Rondo of Blood not to be confused with Dracula X on SNES. A few years after Dracula was defeated, Richter suddenly went missing. Alucard whose Dracula's son decides to take his father on once again. According to a line Richter said, it was a few centuries since he last fought Dracula.
Unlike Castlevania 3's Alucard, this game really made sure to have him stand out. I am not kidding they added some RPG elements that never over stay it's welcome. You can grind by killing enemies or destroying particular candles for money. You also can equip stuff that does affect more than your stats.
Honestly this & Darksiders II are the very long games to nail how I prefer to play a game with those elements. I am not going to lie, just going through one gigantic castle will take you hours. Just imagine having to do two of them? There's plenty of rooms as well as enemies you will come across. Yes there is a learning curve for a few things.
Thankfully in Alucard's campaign, most of that you will quickly adapt to. There is only one merchant in one particular spot in the entire game. By the way I do have an announcement, as of a few hours ago. I gotten every achievement in this game. Yes even getting 200.6% completion one that was frustrating to do.
Well oh okay with great stuff as well as the back tracking it isn't that bad. What makes it annoying is finding some well placed hidden areas. Some of these areas involved getting in the water. Unless you got Holy Symbol, you will take constantly damage as long you're in it. I love for every major problem, the game has a solution.
The sound track is amazing with mostly great sound effects. But you knew I have to talk about the voice acting. Let's put this way it's alright but not really something to remember. Like the original Resident Evil had some cheesy voice acting with some hilariously bad lines. Even with X-Men Arcade with a select few engrish yes that's a thing is better than this.
There's plenty of places to save with fewer teleport locations. These allows you to move directly to a particular area. One of the most annoying flaws this game has without question is waiting to come back after you die. I would've been fine with game over that goes a lot faster or the option to continue.
Why do you have to wait so long to get right back in your save is beyond me. There's a lot of bosses more than your usual Castlevania game. Basically imagine Castlevania 1 & 3 bosses not including sub bosses. Now that's a lot of bosses to keep you busy. I highly recommend getting Beryl Circlet before facing Galamoth.
This guy will whip the floor with you fast. Thankfully while using Beryl Circlet, I was able to finally beat him. I would even go as far to say he's the most difficult enemy to kill in the entire game. There's plenty of amazing art work all around this game. Some of the special effects are among my favorites in this series.
Hard to believe for a decade, most who had the game didn't realize they were only playing half the game. Yes if you don't meet up with Maria to get Holy Glasses. You won't be able to save Richter thus getting the bad ending. I kinda like it isn't set in stone allowing you to go for the inverted castle. Some boss fights are two of them at once or only once three of them at the same time.
I highly recommend learning what you can about the bosses as well as some enemies. For example slime enemies can only be harmed by fire. Otherwise they are immune to whatever else you got. I really love how they went about using the maps in this game. I know all of this & more is a lot of information to take in.
The game itself is over whelming yet works with you at the same time. I do have one major complaint about this game. I don't own an Sega Saturn thus doesn't own the Saturn version of this game. I thought how they worked Maria in with several exclusive enemies was better than Richter's. Believe it or not, at the beginning of Alucard's campaign recreates Rondo of Blood's final boss fight.
This is the only time you will be playing as someone else in Alucard's campaign. Among beating the game in Inverted Castle unlocks Richter mode. You start up a new save typing in Richter to get started. This is sorta a mix between old & new Castlevania style that doesn't fully work. Oh ok this is essentially for many people a speed runner game in this particular mode.
Richter gets all of his moves from the start while you have to perform Alucard's. Yes you also can buy some of them but for a particular achievement. You must perfect all eight of Alucard's moves with a select few being frustrating to pull off. Richter isn't capable of fully exploring both castles. You don't even have to fight every boss.
You heard me correctly, depending on your game plan. You could be facing a couple of them or a handful like I did for the achievement. He doesn't tank damage that well in comparison. Some areas are more difficult to explore due to abusing his jump move that in some spots can be very annoying. One particular spot took me longer to get through then most of anything else in the entire run.
Richter does have some of those whip tricks from other classic Castlevania games. There is no story at all being told during this mode while Alucard's being full of them. A handful of boses like Richter, Dracula & Death aren't present here. Oh ok I can understand two of them but why isn't Death? Obviously Alucard is going notably slower while you can quickly playthrough it as Richter.
In all honesty playing as Alucard is where most the fun ends up being for me. Sure sometimes I have some fun with Richter but it's mostly frustration I feel. Speaking of frustration attempting 200.6% can be tedious. Don't worry I will do my best to explain what to do. Obviously defeat every boss including Galamoth.
You also need to fully explore everywhere in both castles. It should say on your save 200.4% after you do all that work. When you start the cut scene with Shaft. You should get it otherwise you are missing something. I recently heard of a glitch that temporary allows you to get 200.7%. But I wanted to do it more my way.
I recommend constantly looking over the maps while watching a few videos. Especially those showing where the hidden areas are. Keep in mind, what you do in one castle you must do in the other castle too. You get so much stuff to work with from stuff he wears to weapons to relics to familiars.
Yes I do need to mention there's five familiars you can have to help you out. They too also can level up to make things a bit easier. The weirdest part maybe this is just me. One screen Alucard has access to sorta looks nearly identical to that of Final Fantasy VII. I'm not a Final Fantasy fan but any means. I do know a friend who wouldn't waste any time to say something about it.
Obviously they led to a handheld Castlevania games of similar concepts. This could've inspired along with Metroid series, an genre going strong especially in indie video games. To be honest this isn't my first of those style games I done everything in. No that honor goes to Batman: Arkhma Origins - Blackgate on PC.
To be fair, this is a very good Castlevania games even with it's flaws. I am very surprised Konami didn't do additional deals with Castlevania Anniversary Collection. I would've as a preorder deal on Xbox One. Also include Castlevania: Symphony of the Night now how insane would've that been? Of course Sony could've done something similar with a 2 in 1 that also has this game.
The more I think about it, James Rolfe on his The Angry Video Game Nerd show. Directly in one of his Castlevania episodes was very right what he said about this game. If I were to add it to my Castlevania ranking. I would say it is around above Super Castlevania IV but below Castlevania III. It does deserves to be played by more people.
I am well aware like in many game franchises like the case of Resident Evil 4. This game not only became a gateway Castlevania game. It also started it's own fan base that was fighting against older fans. Honestly I'm more of a fan of classic Castlevania. I do still really enjoyed this master piece of a game.
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